Department for Transport

Roads: Accidents

baroness gardner of parkes: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the number of (1) road traffic accidents involving cyclists and HGVs, and (2) deaths resulting from such accidents.

baroness sugg: The Department agrees that accidents involving cyclists and HGVs are an issue of great concern and our aim is to reduce the number of deaths that result from them. Responses to the recent Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS) Safety Review Call for Evidence highlighted these concerns and we will be publishing a full response to the consultation shortly, which will seek to address the issue. Details of the Call for Evidence and the Summary of Responses are available to view on the Department’s website.

Railways: North of England

lord greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the development of a business case for a new high speed railway line across the north of England will include a Determine Stage, Stage 1 of the Department for Transport's five stage Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline; and if not, whether work on Stage 1 will follow the publication of the business case.

baroness sugg: The Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for Northern Powerhouse Rail is being developed by Transport for the North and is being produced in line with the Department’s guidance for transport business cases. In the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline (RNEP) process, the production of the SOBC is one of the key outputs of the Determine Stage of work. Further stages of development work, depending on the nature of the intervention being considered, could follow a range of processes including those outlined in the RNEP process, Network Rail’s Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP) and HS2 Ltd’s processes for hybrid Bill preparation.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Bangladesh: Election Observers

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Commonwealth about any request from either the Bangladesh Awami League or the Bangladesh National Party for it to observe the forthcoming elections.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the High Commissioner to Bangladesh has held any discussions with the government of Bangladesh on the merits of the Commonwealth observing the forthcoming elections in that country; if so, with whom; and what was the outcome.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Bangladesh about the importance of conducting the forthcoming elections in a free and fair manner, in accordance with international norms.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Election observation by the Commonwealth would be a decision for the Commonwealth in dialogue with the Government of Bangladesh. We welcomed the Commonwealth Secretary General's visit to Bangladesh in August this year, and her call at that time for participatory elections.I am clear that the UK wants to see a free, fair and inclusive election in Bangladesh and I have consistently encouraged the Government of Bangladesh and opposition parties to engage in an effective dialogue to this end. During the Minister for Asia and the Pacific’s visit to Bangladesh, 29 June - 1 July, he made clear concerns regarding the prospects for the election to senior members of the Government of Bangladesh, including State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shahriar Alam, and members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party. The Foreign Secretary underlined the importance of free, fair and non-violent elections in Bangladesh with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when they met on 24 September at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Department of Health and Social Care

NHS: Migrant Workers

lord davies of stamford: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many EU citizens have (1) left employment in the NHS, and (2) started employment in the NHS over the last 12 months for which figures are available.

lord davies of stamford: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many non-EU citizens have (1) left employment in the NHS, and (2) started employment in the NHS over the last 12 months for which figures are available.

lord o'shaughnessy: NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.The following table shows those who have joined and those who have left National Health Service trusts and CCGs in England, by nationality, between 30 June 2017 and 30 June 2018, which is latest data available.JoinersLeaversAll nationalities154,458137,161 of which:  United Kingdom120,965110,446European Union (excluding UK)11,38410,487Other European Economic Area countries12293Rest of the World15,0948,288Unknown6,8937,847 Source: NHS HCHS quarterly workforce statistics, NHS Digital

Mental Health Services: Children

lord ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord O'Shaughnessy on 29 October (HL10675), whether they intend to take steps to reverse the 26 per cent increase in referrals to children's mental health services in England over the past five years; and if so, what steps they intend to take.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Government is committed to widening access to children and young people’s mental health services to address unmet need and ensure that more children and young people get the support they need, at the right time.Through the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, we have made an additional £1.4 billion available for children’s mental health service transformation. Overall investment in children and young people’s mental health services was £1.05 billion in 2017/18. We are on track to meet the commitment to ensure that an additional 70,000 children and young people access community mental health services annually by 2020/21.In addition, the Government has announced further plans to improve early intervention for mild to moderate mental health conditions, through better join up with schools and colleges, to address rising needs and ensure that referrals to specialist services are appropriate. To deliver the key proposal to improve access to services, we are creating a new workforce of Mental Health Support Teams, working in and near schools and colleges, with trained staff to deliver interventions to young people to support their mental health.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of people in England suffering from leg ulcers in England in each of the last 10 years.

lord o'shaughnessy: The information is not available in the format requested.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the NHS in England of leg ulcers in each of the last 10 years.

lord o'shaughnessy: No such assessment has been made as the relevant data is not centrally held by the Department.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to the NHS in England of early endovenous ablation of leg ulcers.

lord o'shaughnessy: The results of the Early Venous Reflux Ablation (EVRA) study (2018) and the Effect of Surgery and Compression on Healing and Recurrence (ESCHAR) trial (2004) indicate that early superficial endovenous ablation improves healing of venous leg ulceration, reduces the risk of ulcer recurrence and is cost-effective.Therefore, the results of the EVRA study and the ESCHAR trial will be incorporated into the National Wound Care Strategy Programme recommendations for care, as this will bring benefits to both patients and the National Health Service.

Varicose Veins

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to people aged over 65 of endovenous ablation treatment of varicose veins.

lord o'shaughnessy: Varicose veins can cause complications because they stop blood flowing properly, including venous leg ulcers as a result of chronic venous insufficiency.The results of the Early Venous Reflux Ablation (EVRA) study (2018) and the Effect of Surgery and Compression on Healing and Recurrence (ESCHAR) trial (2004) indicate that early superficial endovenous ablation improves healing of venous leg ulceration, reduces the risk of ulcer recurrence and is cost-effective.Therefore, the results of the EVRA study and the ESCHAR trial will be incorporated into the National Wound Care Strategy Programme recommendations for care, as this will bring benefits to both patients and the National Health Service.The EVRA study and the ESCHAR trial included patients over the age of 65 so the results are applicable to older people. However, no sub-analysis is presented for people over the age of 65 so it is not possible to identify if there are any benefits or risks beyond the overall results for people over 65.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the annual cost to the NHS in England of leg ulcer patients undergoing superficial venous reflux treatment.

lord o'shaughnessy: No such assessment has been made as the relevant data is not held centrally by the Department.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of patient leg ulcer care pathways developed by the Venous Forum of the Royal Society of Medicine.

lord o'shaughnessy: NHS England is not aware of any assessments of the efficacy of patient leg ulcer care pathways developed by the Venous Forum of the Royal Society of Medicine.There are plans to develop a national patient leg ulcer care pathway, and the Venous Forum has been invited to join the lower limb workstream to contribute to the development of this pathway.

Multiple Births

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage prompt implementation of the updated NICE guidance on twin, triplet and more pregnancies, which is due to be published in 2019.

lord o'shaughnessy: In 2017, the Department funded the Twins and Multiple Births Association Maternity Engagement Project. The results from the interim report suggest that increased adherence to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance gave better outcomes for multiple births. Taking this into account, the Department expects all health professionals working with multiple pregnancies to adhere to the relevant NICE guidance. To reduce variance in the levels of maternity care across trusts, all maternity services now have one obstetrician, one midwife and one board level Maternity Safety Champion jointly responsible for championing maternity safety, spreading learning and encouraging best practice within their organisations. This includes adherence to NICE guidelines on issues such as antenatal care for multiple pregnancies.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many leg ulcer patients in England were aged (1) 18 to 39 years, (2) 40 to 59 years, and (3) 60 years or older, in each of the last ten years.

lord o'shaughnessy: The information is not available in the format requested.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many leg ulcer patients in England were (1) male, and (2) female, in each of the last ten years.

lord o'shaughnessy: The information is not available in the format requested.

Abscesses

lord wills: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many leg ulcer patients in England were in (1) higher and intermediate managerial, administrative, or professional occupations, (2) supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative, or professional occupations, (3) skilled manual occupations, (4) semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupations, and (5) no occupation, in each of the last ten years.

lord o'shaughnessy: The requested information is not centrally held by the Department. NHS Digital does not routinely collect any socio-economic or occupation-related data in association with patient episodes.

NHS: Migrant Workers

lord jones of cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) doctors, (2) nurses, (3) health care assistants, (4) technicians, (5) paramedics, and (6) mental health professionals currently employed by the NHS were recruited from overseas; and what percentage of the overall NHS workforce those employees represent.

lord o'shaughnessy: Data is not available in the format requested.

Department for Education

Apprentices: Taxation

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have analysed the income from the apprenticeship levy on an industry by industry basis; whether they have made a comparative analysis of (1) that income, and (2) the number of apprentices in each industry; and if so, whether they will publish the results of any such analyses.

lord agnew of oulton: Before the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, we forecast the expected levy income on an industry by industry basis. This forecast is attached. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collects the levy on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government. HMRC has not yet analysed the income received from the Apprenticeship Levy on an industry by industry basis. We published apprenticeship starts data on an industry by industry basis on 25 October 2018. This publication is attached.



HL11174_Apprenticeships_levy_and_total_spend
(PDF Document, 344.21 KB)




HL11174_Apprenticeship_starts_table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 802 KB)

Religion: Education

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Commission on Religious Education, Religion and Worldviews: the way forward. A national plan for RE, published in September; and whether they intend to provide a response to that report.

lord agnew of oulton: Religious education helps to develop children’s knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and to foster understanding among different faiths and cultures – it is also compulsory for all age groups in state-funded schools. The report by the Commission for Religious Education highlights the challenges faced in teaching religious education and sets out a number of recommendations on how the teaching and status of religious education in England could be improved. The department is reviewing these recommendations and will respond to them soon.

Ministry of Justice

Bail

lord ponsonby of shulbrede: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the new procedure in Magistrates' Courts routinely not to provide bailed defendants with written details of their bail conditions and future court dates on the number of defendants who (1) break their bail conditions, and (2) fail to appear at court; and whether they intend to monitor and track the impact of that change.

lord keen of elie: The procedural requirement in Magistrates’ Courts for the provision to defendants of written details of their bail conditions, and future court dates, has not changed. The Criminal Procedure Rules require the court to serve notice of a decision about bail on the defendant. This notice can be either personally served on the defendant at court, or sent by post following the hearing.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Local Government: Standards

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review their intervention regime for local authorities in crisis.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: In 2016 the Communities and Local Government Select Committee endorsed our approach to intervention in local authorities and we have no plans to review the current regime. The Secretary of State does not take the decision to intervene lightly and will only intervene in a democratically elected council where there are systemic failings and it is necessary to secure compliance with the best value duty.

Unitary Councils

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government with which local authorities they are currently holding discussions regarding possible transition to unitary status.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Ministers and officials have discussions with many councils about a wide range of issues, which may include the possible transition to unitary status as in the case of discussions with the eight Northamptonshire councils, which have now in response to a formal invitation submitted a proposal for unitarisation.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Foreign Nationals

lord goodlad: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Fijians have joined the British Armed Forces in each of the last 20 years.

lord goodlad: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have a policy towards the recruitment of Fijians into the British Armed Forces.

earl howe: To be eligible to join the British Armed Forces an individual must be a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen, either as a sole or dual national. As Fiji is a member of the Commonwealth, its citizens are eligible to apply to join. There is no recruitment process specifically for Fijian nationals. All British, Irish and Commonwealth nationals are required to make an online application and, if successful, will then go through the recruitment and selection assessment process in the UK for the Service they are applying to join. Information held by the Ministry of Defence on the numbers of Regular personnel who reported a Fijian nationality on joining the British Armed Forces in each Financial Year (FY) since 1998-99 is provided in the following table.  Number of Regular personnel reporting a Fijian nationality on intake to the British Armed Forces (FYs 1998-99 to 2017-18) FYRoyal Navy/Royal MarinesArmyRoyal Air Force (RAF)Total2017-18~160~1602016-17-70~702015-16-10~102014-15~10-102013-141020-202012-13~50-502011-12~60~702010-111030-402009-102030-502008-0930140~1702007-0820220-2402006-07..20~202005-06..110..1102004-05..220..2202003-04..280..2802002-03..470..4702001-02..490..4902000-01..260..2601999-00..320..3201998-99..20..20Total110 2,980 10 3,100  Notes:Nationality is not part of the Royal Navy/Royal Marines and RAF legacy datasets (data held prior to the introduction of the Joint Personnel Administration System) and as such figures for these Services are included only from 2007-08 for Royal Navy/Royal Marines and 2006-07 for RAF. The declaration rate for nationality on intake for FY 2017-18 is 99.1%. Some personnel will declare their nationality after intake; figures in this table show nationality declared at intake. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. ‘~’ indicates a number less than 5. ‘-‘ indicates zero.

Nuclear Submarines

lord judd: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Commanding Officers of nuclear submarines have access to a military lawyer about the law of armed conflict.

earl howe: All Service personnel, including Commanding Officers of ballistic missile submarines, receive training on the law of armed conflict (LOAC), including during initial basic training phases, staff courses and promotion courses. Personnel are also required to undertake annual LOAC training to agreed standards.Her Majesty's Government, which receives legal advice, is clear that the use of nuclear weapons - like all weapons - would be subject to the requirements of the LOAC. Only the Prime Minister can authorise the firing of nuclear weapons and the Commanding Officer of the ballistic missile submarine must confirm that the authorisation to fire meets the rigorous authentication processes in place.

Warships

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how many destroyer and frigate vessels will be required to meet the UK broad strategic defence goals after Brexit.

earl howe: As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, the Government is currently committed to a surface fleet of 19 Frigates and Destroyers. The Type 45 Destroyers are hugely capable ships and have been deployed successfully on a range of operations worldwide. They continue to make an enormous contribution to the defence of the UK and our international partners. We want the first Type 31e Frigate in 2023, with five ships delivered by the end of 2028. The Type 31e will replace the fleet of General Purpose Type 23 Frigates. We have signed a £3.7 billion contract for the first batch of three Type 26 Frigates. All eight Type 26 Frigates will be built by BAE Systems on the Clyde, securing the future of shipbuilding in Scotland. These plans have not changed as a consequence of Brexit.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Nature Conservation

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings in the Living Planet Report 2018, published by the World Wildlife Fund and Zoological Society of London, that (1) there has been a decline of 60 per cent in species population sizes between 1970 and 2014, and (2) species population declines are especially pronounced in the tropics; and what strategy, if any, they have to address these findings.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government recognises that there have been declines in species populations across the world since 1970 and that declines have been pronounced in many tropical ecosystems. This downward trend and the impact it has on peoples’ economic and social wellbeing highlights the need to strengthen international efforts to tackle biodiversity loss.   The Government is committed to being the first generation to leave our environment in a better state than we found it. We are already working worldwide, including in the tropics, to tackle biodiversity loss, by:   Investing more than £36 million between 2014 and 2021 to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, and hosting the fourth international Illegal Wildlife Trade conference last month in London. The conference represented a significant step forward in the global fight to eliminate this trade;Committing £210 million of Defra’s International Climate Finance to support projects that aim to protect and restore more than 500,000 hectares of the world’s most biodiverse forests. For example, we are supporting communities in Madagascar to protect mangrove forests, which are important habitats for the protection of many species, some of which are found nowhere else on earth;Ambitious plans under the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan to reverse the decline of many species and help wildlife survive and thrive. We are committed to protecting the oceans, and have called for at least 30 per cent of the oceans to be in Marine Protected Areas by 2030. The UK is also leading the fight against plastic pollution; andIntroducing one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales to protect the elephant.   We are also committed to developing an ambitious post-2020 strategic framework for biodiversity and are working with countries around the world to achieve this under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Home Office

Capital Punishment

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many individuals have been deported from the UK to countries where people can be sentenced to death without a death penalty assurance being sought since 2001.

baroness williams of trafford: Home Office policy is not to deport foreign nationals from the UK if to do so would breach the UK’s international obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Cabinet Office

Public Sector: Allowances

lord foulkes of cumnock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what allowance is paid to people serving on government agencies and bodies who have to stay overnight in London to attend meetings or perform other duties.

lord young of cookham: Government agencies and bodies are made up of both civil servants and non-civil servants. For people serving on government agencies and bodies who are civil servants, the following applies.There is no central government travel, subsistence and expenses (T,S&E) policy, and as such, rates and allowances are delegated for individual departments to decide upon. In setting their rates departments must be adherent with Section 8 of the Civil Service Management Code (CSMC), Jon Thompson's 2010 review of Civil Service expense policies and The Efficiency and Reform Group Business Travel Policy Principles launched on 20 July 2011.As there is no cross-government T,S&E policy, there is no centrally held information on the accommodation allowance paid by departments to non-London based civil servants serving on government agencies and bodies when they are required to stay in London as part of their employment. This information will be held in individual departments.For people serving on government agencies and bodies who are not civil servants, information on travel, subsistence and expenses allowances would not be held centrally within the Civil Service. Although some departments may hold some relevant information about the arrangements in their non-department public bodies.

Interparliamentary Forum on Brexit

baroness hayter of kentish town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the letter from the Members of the Interparliamentary Forum on Brexit to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster dated 29 October; and when they intend to respond to that letter and its conclusion that the Joint Ministerial Committee mechanism is not fit for purpose.

lord young of cookham: We are grateful to the Forum for its contribution to the debate and its recommendations, which will continue to inform discussions between the UK Government and devolved administrations on the review of intergovernmental relations. We note the Forum's request for a response by 14 January and will respond in due course.

Local Government: Elections

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for further voter ID pilots in next year’s local elections; and how lessons learnt from the 2018 pilots will inform decisions regarding any pilots next year.

lord young of cookham: The Government is committed to making sure that our electoral system is fit for the future. Vulnerabilities cannot be allowed to undermine the integrity of our democracy.The success of the voter ID pilots in May this year proves that voter ID is a reasonable and proportionate measure.On 3 November the Government announced that eleven local authorities across England would be takiné part in voter ID pilots for the 2019 local elections:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/next-round-of-voter-id-pilots-announced-for-2019The pilots will give us a deeper understanding of how voter ID will work on a wider scale and what works best for voters. We are paying close attention to the Electoral Commission's recommendations to help inform the development of voter ID.

Emergencies: Planning

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the reasonable worst-case scenarios that they have asked local resilience forums to work on.

lord young of cookham: Local Resilience Forums are required under the Civil Contingencies Act to compile and publish community risk registers setting out the main risks in their areas to both raise awareness and guide contingency planning. In doing this, they are guided by, among other things, the National Risk Assessment (NRA) which covers the range of risks that could cause a civil emergency in the UK, and provides a list of the common consequences of these risks in the form of planning assumptions. These cover the maximum scale, duration and impact that could reasonably be expected to occur as a result of emergencies.The NRA is classified for national security reasons, and it is therefore not possible to share details of the reasonable worst-case scenarios or planning assumptions. A declassified version is available in the form of the National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies (NRR). This is also provided to the local planning community, and has been placed in the House of Lords Library. Most Community Risk Registers are also available online.